November 2011

well, it has been about 7 years since I blogged last. I have been busy building a shed for my marmots. Marmot sheds require a lot of time.

More importantly, right now Im dealing with something that has died in the vicinity of my laundry room. I of course, often do my cartooning at home, and it is hard to concentrate with the heavy smell of death lingering in the house. I have put up over 40 Glade stick ups near the laundry room. But they are making me hallucinate. Obviously, it would make sense to find out what has died, but I am worried that it may be my cleaning lady and just do not want to get into a lot of uproar and polilce investigations right now. So, the Glade is the best way to go.

I'm working right on deadline these days, which is basically how I do it most of the time. I have to submit work at a minimum of 11 days ahead of when they appear, and draw one week at a time. I know some people have the notion that we cartoonists draw one cartoon a day and wak it down to their individual newspaper offices. this of, of course, would be impossible, since Close To Home is carried in over 291,000 papers around the world and I would have to walk to all those places and I cannot because I have a bad ankle.

Cartoons from the Archive

Hard Times for the Funny Pages- Advice for Beginners

With newspapers struggling to remain afloat, this is a tough time to try to launch a comic strip. It may even be impossible. So what is a new cartoonist to do? Shift your focus, for now at least. None us really knowswhat the future of newspapers is, as they try to find their place among the difficult economy and the all-consuming presence of the Web. I recommend trying to freelance for magazines and journals. There are zillions of magazines and journals publications out there (well maybe not ZILLIONS, but certainlyQua-BILLIONS!). Publications like National Cow Groomer are out there, and though they may not currently be carrying cartoons, they may be interested. I freelanced for many years before Close To Home came out in 1992 and would often call magazines out of the blue and try to encourage them to buy my cartoons, even though they didn't carry cartoons. It was actually a lot of fun and very lucrative.

More, on this scintillating topic in my next installment of Advice for Beginners.